Sliding-door operator



Jan. 6,1931. A. s. BARROWS 1,788,184

SLIDING noon OPERATOR Original Filed June 2'1, 1

o o 00 o o o o o oo o o o o o o 0 Fig. 0 o o 0 T 0 1 J6 o a o 0 o o o oI o o 11 1 o o 10 U o o i 9 o o 10 o 00 o o o o o o o o o o o 0 o 0 O O0 o G 0 0 II/II/IIIIIIII I nvenfiar; Aiia r1 5. Ba rrows ALLAN s.Benson/s, or' 'iloshnenrns, cALrroRNm, ASSIGNOB Terran Yonnesrownclosing Patented JaiLG, 193i 7 STEEL DOOR co on CLEVELAND, OHIOXA.cczeronarron OFOI-IIO supineincer: OPERATOR:

Original applicationfiled June '27,; i924, Serial Nb. 722,761". Dividedand this application. filed June 118,-

.192 8. SerialNo. 286,372.

This invention relates I to improvements .in sliding door operator, andmore particular- 1y sliding door operators adapted for house cars, andthis application is a division of my pending application, Serial No.722,761, for Improvement in doors,'filedJune 27,1924;

Qne object of this inventionisto provide simple and effective operatingmechanisms for slidable doors, and m orel especially slidable doors ofthe outside type for box cars and automobile cars, wherein a powerfulinitial opening movement and a powerful final movement may beimparted-to the doors. i T

-Morespe'cifically, anobject of my invention is to provide a dooroperating mechanism for the purpose indicated,"which comprises anoperating lever of the second class and a cooperable detachable link soarranged that the lever andlinl: may be' disconnected after the initialopening movement'has been 1mparted tothe door.

other objects of the invention Will more "clearly appear from thedescription and claims hereinafter following.

In the drawing, forming apart of this specification, Figure 1 is abroken side elevational view of aportion of a box car, snowing myimprovements inwconnection therewith. I And Figure?! is abrokenhorizontal sectional view, iiponan enlarged scale, corresponding to theline 22 of Figure 1.

In said drawing, the side wall of the cari is indicated at 10, the samehaving a'single door openin 11 provided therein, said door opening beingdefined in part, by vertical wood posts 12 and 13 which are preferablysheathed to protect the same by metal plates I My improvements have beenillustrated in connection with a slidable door of the alli'netal type,said door being indicated generally by the reference character A and, as

' shown, comprises three sheet metal panels 15,

16 and 17, each of the panels having a central,flat, dished portion andprovided around the margins thereof with an outwardly ex tending,inclined section 18 and a flat flange 19. The fiat flanges 19 on themeeting adjacent edges of the, panels are overlapped and in Figure 2,andan riveted, as indicated at 2020, thereby providing what maybe termedtwo horizontally I extending corrugations within the area of the door.Around the otheredge portions ofthe' panels suitable rolled sections arepreferably secured thereto, aJZ-bar21 being nsed' along the front edgeof the door, as best indicated angle .22 along. the vertical rear edge.v i I p Bridging strips 23 23 are also preferably employed, each stripbeing riveted to themain portions of thepanel sheets inwardly oftheoffset sections and to the rolled edge elements, as will .be understood.front edge construction shown. a-double-ply, fiat, marginal. portion isprovided, as indicated at 24, the same being adapted to enter a suitablerecess provided between the front post '1'2'and the outer flange of aZ-bar front stop 26. The rear edge angle 22 is With the preferablyprovided with a forwardly turned flange 27 at'its inner end, thesame'being adapted to beseated behind a flange of an angleWeather-sealing strip 28. As will be understood, my improved dooroperator -.is

not limitedto any particular typerof door,

the one shown anddescribed being for purposes of illustration only.

My lmproved door operatr comprises,

broadly, an '0]:)erating lever B, mounted on a bracket C, and a link Dmounted on a bracket memberfto which it is applied. In the instanceshown, said bracket. C is of more or less right angular form, having aflange section 29 riveted. to the web of the door stop 26, and a flangesection 30 spaced outwardly tromthc door stop andapproximatelv in aplane coinciding with a plane passing through the crest of the ofi'setportions or the door. The bracket C is suitably reinforced by ribs 31,and the section. 30 is provided with an outstanding pivot stud or boss32, on which is p votally mounted the lever 13, the latter being held inplace by any suitfablefmeans, such as the washer 33 and rivet Theoperatinglever Bis pivotally mounted atxitsupper end on the stud 32, asabove described, and is provided at its lower end witha hand-holdorigripsection 'lntere mediate its ends, the lever B is provided with apreferably integral stud 36 extended outwardly from the car side, saidstud hav ing a slightly enlarged annular flange 37 at its ou'terend, forthe purpose hereinaftendef scribed.

applied. In E'has a bottom flange 38'riveted to the fiat dished portionof theylower' anellT- an" u u l i I outwardly inehnedsection 89 tittin'against. the inclined section'l8 of the panel sheet;

and an outer mainhub section d0, the latter being provided'with a stud41 on which is loosely plvotally" mounted the link D. The stud L1 ispreferably of greater length than the width of the link D so that thelatter may not only swing on the stud ll in a plane parallel to theplane of the door, but may also be swun laterall .withres )ectto the rdoom for the purposehereinatter described.

The link D is preferably held in assembled relation with the'bracket Evany suitable means, such as the Washer 42 and rivet 43.

The link D, at its free end, is provided with an opening 44 just largeenough to pass over the flanged end 37 of the stud 36, so that it may bereceived'on the stud proper 36, and when in operative position will bepartially overlapped by the flange 37 so as to prevent accidentaldisengagement, laterally, o-t the link. I

In the drawin the operative interconnected condition or the lever B andlink D is shown in full lines, with the parts 'in such position as tostart the opening movement or" the door. This is accomplished by theoperator swinging the lever B in acounter-clockwise directioinit beingobserved that the means;

through in effecting the final closing movements of 'the doon as will beobvious.

' As will be appreciatedfrom the preceding description, the dooroperatorconsists of a minimum number of parts and so arranged as to mosteffectively apply the power to the door in either an opening or closingdirection. Although I have illustrated the operator with the leversupported from a'fiXed part of the car 'andthe' li-nk attached to themovable .door, it'isfobvious that the arrangement of V these parts maybe reversed and further that r 1: 4+ V lhennk at aching bracket Ewill be0t any 7 suitable-desired formation adapting it to the particularconfiguration of door to WlllCll" the instance shown, the bracket thedoor operator may be made effective between the usual main and auxiliarydoors of an automobile car, without departing from the spirit of theinvention. I

"WhileI have herein shown and described what'l'consider the preferredmanner of carrying out my invention,the sameis merely-illustrativeland Icontemplate all'changes and modifications that come within the scope oftheclaim appended hereto.

Iclaim; I

In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a horizontallyslidable door member; of a second member toward andfrom whichthedoor-member is'movable; an operating lever pivoted at its upper end toone of said members; alink pivotally attached at one'of its ends to theother of said members so as to swing in a vertical plane; andcooperable, detachable, interengaging means on the free end ofsaid' linkand on said lever, the means'on'said lever being disposed at a pointintermediate the. pivoted and freeends of the lever and so located that,when the door is in closed position and the link and lever areinterengaged, the link is disposed substantially horizontallyand theactuating, force transmitted from the lever to the link in a directionto open the door, initially passes substantially horizontally lengthwiseof the link. In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereuntosubscribed my name this 11th day of June, l928.

ALLAN S. BABROVVS.

powertrom the lever B is applied to the link; V l) substantially in ahorizontal line passing through the pivotal connection of thelink D Vwith the door, thus obtaining the most ethcient application of the powerto the door and minimizing any tendency to cook or tilt the door Whilestarting it. Then the door has been. shifted in an opening direction asfar as desired and within the range of the door og z-erator. the link Dthen has its free end disa igcd iroin the stud 36, the balance of theopening inm'einent of the door being accomplished in any other suitablemanner. When the link and lever are disengaged, it is obvious that eachwill hang in a dependent position, asshown by the dotted lines inFigure 1. The reverse procedure. vwill be gone

